Tales of Vesperia: Hidden Truth
by Busterman64
Summary: What would you do if you found yourself in a prison cell with no memory of who you are or how you got to where you are in the first place? With the help of two strangers, Joshua goes on a journey to find out the truth. However, his journey may not just affect him, but also the people around him. Self-Insert. Pairings: OC/?, Yuri/?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note **

Hello! Just wanted to say this is my very first fanfiction story, so forgive me if some parts of my story look a little weird. If there are any issues, I will iron them out as time goes on. I will get better, but in the meantime, I hope you can bare with me for a while. Also, I want to thank noa748 and her story New Reality(which is really good) for inspiring me to write this and you(whoever you are) for reading my stuff, it means a lot. Anyway, here is the Prologue(Chapter 1 will be uploaded not to far from when this is uploaded)! Enjoy!

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**_Our world, Terra Lumireis. No one knows how far its lands and oceans stretch. For the people are no match against the hordes of monsters that crawl the earth. Barriers protect the cities in which we live, and we are completely dependent upon them for our survival. The barriers are generated by the blastia. Blastia use the primeval power of aer that fills the world...To provide us with fire, water, and light. They provide us with everything that has made the empire prosper._**

**_Perhaps one day...We may even forget the threat of the vicious monsters lying in wait, just beyond the barriers .The blessings of the blastia...Will bestow ever more prosperity to the world and peace to its people._**

**_From the Imperial capital Zaphiaus, bedrock of peace, we pray: May tranquility bless this world._**

I looked around at my surrounds, but all I saw was darkness. Darkness as far as my eyes could see. Where am I, how did I get here? I asked myself that, but I had no answer. As I stood where I was, I didn't feel any other presence. I seemed to be alone, alone in all of this darkness. "Heeellloooooo" I cried, but there was no response. I tried taking a few steps forward, but suddenly a bright light shined in front of me. "Aaahhh!" The light was so bright I had to shield my eyes. After it dimmed down a bit, I looked over at where the light was. As I stared at it, I could see that there was figure amid the light. "Wh-Who are you?" I asked. The light dimmed enough for me to see that it was a woman. She wore a green dress, had blonde hair, and her eyes were green. She didn't seem hostile, but that didn't make me feel any better. "My name is Titania. My time with you will be short, so listen closely to what I am about to tell you. A great mystery has been put upon you, it will take you on a journey, a journey that will not only affect you, but also the people around you" she said. "What do you mean by that?" I asked with a puzzled look on my face. "I cannot say much, but what I will tell you is that your life is about to change. Whether it is good or bad is your decision." "Wait a second, what are you talking about? What Journey?" As I asked, Titania began to slowly fade away. "Hey, what's happening to you?" "My time with you is almost over… our time to part is drawing near. Before I go, I ask that you remember these words…" then she disappeared. All of a sudden, I started sinking into the ground, being engulfed by the darkness. I tried to struggle free, but it was futile as continued sinking. Before I was fully engulfed, I heard Titania's voice one last time saying "No matter what you may go through or have to deal with, you are you. And nothing will change that." With those final words, I was completely engulfed by the darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: A Missing Past

**Author Note**

Hello again! Just wanted to bring Chapter 1 to you! Forgive me if there are errors, I will fix them later. Anyway, Hope you enjoy!

**Edit:6/6/2014** OK, I fixed a few things in this chapter. The most noticeable is that I spaced out the words a bit more. Now everything isn't crunched up together, so it should be a bit easier to read.

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**Chapter 1 : A Missing Past**

"So like I was sayin', the thief made off with a priceless treasure from that noble's mansion."

Huh? Is that a voice?

"I know, I know. Then he was caught, and the loot was returned, right?"

"No. See, that's just nobility trying' ta keep things quiet. The treasure in the mansion right now's a fake"

" You're pulling my leg."

I began to slowly regain consciousness as I heard two voices from a distance. I was laying on my right side on what seemed like a hard floor. I tried opening my eyes, but it was difficult. I managed to open my eyes wide enough to see, but not to where it was noticeable that I was awake. Trying to move wasn't working too well either, I felt really weak for some reason. Since my eyes and ears were the only thing really useable at the time, I tried to look at my surroundings while also continuing to listen to the voices I was hearing. As I listened to them, I realized they were both males.

"Hey, ya didn't hear it from me, bub. The Dark wings are goin' nuts lookin' for the hideout."

"You mean the thieves' guild?"

**! **

"Ahem! That's enough out of you. Almost meal time."

As I heard footsteps, I noticed they were getting louder. I realized the person talking before was coming near where I was, where ever that was. Suddenly, a figure came into my vision from a distance. After a good look, even with my eye sight kinda blurry, I could see that he looked like some sort of knight. As he was walking past me, he looked in my direction and stop and turned completely in my direct. He was staring at me for some reason. Why was he staring at me?

After a few seconds he said, "That kid has been lying there for 3 days now and hasn't moved an inch, I wonder if he's dead?"

Wait, What?! H-Have I been out for three days?! How is that possible?! Maybe that's the reason I feel so weak… I then noticed something. I noticed that in front of the knight was a door, a cell door. He was on one side and I was on the other, but I was in what seemed to be a really small room. Then it hit me. I'm in a jail cell. Why am I in a jail cell?! What the heck is going?! Even if no one could tell, I started to freak out really bad and my thoughts went haywire! As I was freaking out, the knight began to speak again, but this time he looked to the left of me.

"At least you have someone to keep you company this time." The knight then turned back in the direction he was walking and walked away.

Why did he say _"__**At least you have someone to keep you company this time**__."_ Is some else in here with me? And once again, my thoughts were being interrupted by someone, but this time it was the other person the knight was talking to.

"Hey neighbor! You're awake right? You gotta be gettin' tired from keepin' so quiet."

Is he talking to me? My question was quickly answered.

"You think that little story up all by yourself, old man? You must have plenty of time on your hands."

"Old man? Now you've gone and hurt this old man's feelings. Besides, I didn't make up nothin'. I've got eyes and ears the world over diggin' up information for me."

"Heh, sure you do, old man"

I gave up on trying to wonder what was going on for the time being since I couldn't really think, I couldn't really do anything at the moment, and these two guys, whoever they are, seemed to be having a very interesting conversation. Besides, I needed to calm down if I want to figure out what was going on. I also noticed that I was slowly regaining my strength. I don't know how much, but some is better than none.

"Hey, I am what I am. Go ahead and ask me something. I'll tell ya whatever ya want to know. Wanna know about the pirate guild's sunken treasure? How 'bout the sorcerer who makes his home at the ends of the earth? Or wait, I've got it…"

"I just want to know how to get out of here."

"Well I'm not sure what yer in for, but they'll let ya out if ya keep yer trap shut for ten days."

"The lower quarter'll be underwater by then."

"The lower quarter… Ah yeah, I heard about that."

"I wonder how they're all doing right now."

"Sorry, neighbor. That's one piece of dirt I don't have."

"And what am I gonna do about that damned Mordio."

"THE Mordio? You mean to say you've got connections to the famed mage from Aspio, the City of Scholars?"

"Do you know about him?"

"Oho! Want ta know, huh? I'm afraid that information won't come cheap…"

"The "famed mage from Aspio, the City of scholars"right? I think I got it."

Well, looks like someone just had a "herp derp" moment. I couldn't help but chuckle quietly to myself a little. The conversation between the two, who I'm going to call old man and Lee for the time being, helped me calm down a bit.

"W-wait, that's not it. He's the uh, the head of the gourmet guild! No wait, it's the uh, I mean…"

Before he could finish, we could foot steps down the hall getting louder and louder until we saw who those footsteps belonged to. It was a man was who looked really…important, to say the least. It's hard to describe, but he had almost shoulder length silver hair and looked like he wore clothes like the knights. Just more dignified and formal.

As he walked past the cell I was in, he stopped and turned his head in my direction and looked at me. Am I really that interesting to look at? When I think about it though, I have no idea what I'm wearing right now or what I even look like. Weird… Another thing that's weird is that looking at this guy seemed to make me feel…angry for some reason. Why? He didn't stare long and turned his head back in front of him and kept walking. He stopped again and I could hear cell door next to mine open.

"Out", was the only thing he said. "Ah well, just when things were getting' good", the old man said.

Then I heard Lee say in a low voice "...What is Commandant Alexei doing here?"

"Hurry up", Alexei ordered. As they walked past my cell, I saw how the man from the other cell looked. He had black pants with two dark pink diamonds shapes on each leg, a purple jacket with yellow and black diamond shapes on the edges, a dark pink button-up shirt, and had black hair that was put in a ponytail. He also looked like he was either in his 30's or older, not very sure.

As he passed by he stumbled.

"Whoa!" he said catching himself before completely hit the ground.

Suddenly I saw a figure move by me very quickly to where the old man stumbled. It was Lee. I couldn't really tell how he looked from the way he positioned himself at the moment, but I could at least tell he had long dark purple hair, black clothes, wore silver boots, and wore a big yellow bracelet or something on his left arm. He said something to the "Old man" in a whisper that I was close enough to hear, just barely though.

"Just who are you anyway? What does the head of the Knights want with you?"

"Beneath the statue of the goddess…" And then the "old man" flicked something under the cell door. It looked like a key. Was it a key for the door?

Alexei apparently seemed to grow quickly impatient waiting on the old man.

"What are you doing? I said hurry up." He said.

"All right, easy. I'm coming." The old man said replying back after picking himself up and dusting himself off. Then they both left.

Lee picked up the key the old man gave him. "…I did say I was looking for a way out of here", he said as he looked at the key. He tried using the key on the door and it opened.

"Would you look at that-it opened." He walked out the cell and closed the cell door, but not completely. He closed it just enough so that it looked closed. He looked at me for second and then he walked away. I saw his face and I could tell he looked like he's around the age of 18, give or take a few years.

Then I heard him from a distance saying, "Ever-vigilant as usual... With the way he's sleeping, it'll be a while before anyone notices I'm gone. If I come back before morning they'll never be the wiser to my little jailbreak. I think I can check on the Lower Quarter and make it back by morning. It'd probably be good to try that statue of the goddess, too. When you've got a key, unlocking the door is a cinch... But I can't be doing this over and over again all night... I'd best be careful."

I heard things being moved around for a second and then I heard him leave the room. As I lied on the cell floor, now by myself, my earlier thoughts and worries came back to me. Why am I here in a cell, how did I get here, why can't I recall what I'm wearing or what I look like , or…or… Then I realized something, three things in fact. One, I don't remember where I am or how I got here in the first place, two, my head was hurting. I'm surprised I didn't notice until now. And three, I had a feeling that I didn't need to be here and bad things would happen if I stayed. So I decided, that I needed to leave now because I don't think I will get another chance after this. Guess it's time for a jailbreak!

I tried moving again and thankfully I was able to move this time, but I still felt really weak. As I tried to get up I didn't have too much trouble push myself off the ground. Then I tried to stand up, but I found myself falling smack into the wall. I was so weak, my legs couldn't support themselves. So I tried to use the wall to support me and it helped to an extent. Using my right hand to move myself across the wall a little, I stood in front of the cell door and opened it. I wanted to move myself along the bars so I could get out, but unfortunately as I tried doing that I slipped and fell out of the cell instead.

"Ow!" I said. It was louder than I wanted too. I hope that didn't wake the guard up. I stayed still for a second and listened for a second. I didn't hear anything coming from where the knight was, well maybe a soft snore, but nothing that put my chances of escaping in danger. So, I continued with my escape plan. With my foot, I closed the cell door so they wouldn't know I escaped right away. Since I fell on the floor, I had to crawl on the floor to get to the other wall, which wasn't too hard thankfully. After pulling myself up using the wall, I continued down the hall till I reached where the guard was.

"That's right, stay asleep till I get out of here" I whispered. Then I saw to his far right a few crates stacked up on each other in the shape of a pyramid, kinda anyway. Taking a closer, I saw the crates contained various items inside them. Out of all the items, two caught my attention. A satchel and a sword. Are these mine? They seem familiar... I tried thinking about it, but all I could draw in my mind was a blank. Why can't I remember… I picked up the satchel and inside was a small bag, a pair of glasses, a necklace with a cross on it, and a small clear orb. This stuff looks familiar alright. I took out the glasses put them on without thinking and everything got a lot clearer. Guess that explains why things seemed so blurry to me, I need to wear glasses. The next thing I picked up was the small bag, which was the size of my hand, and opened it. It had something that looked like candy. A few were red, a few were orange, and one of them were light blue. I stared at them for a few seconds and then I realized something else…I'm starving. I haven't eaten in three day, so that makes sense. I wonder if I can eat these…gelly things. I took out the light blue. I really hope this is food.

"Well, here goes nothing" I quietly said to myself. I popped it in to my mouth and started chewing. It actually tasted pretty good, and it didn't take long for me to chew and swallow it either. A few seconds after I swallowed it, for some reason, my body became full of energy! Every ounce of weakness I felt before was gone! My legs were able to support themselves now, so my plan to escape just got a lot easier.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting that", I said. Seeing how the thing I just ate was in a bag with similar gelly things, they must do the same thing. As much as I wanted to eat more, keeping them for another time would be a good idea. I placed the bag of gelly candy, which is what I'm calling them for now, back into the satchel and picked up the necklace. The necklace wasn't anything fancy, all it had was a sliver cross that was maybe one inch long and was on a small chain. Suddenly, I felt the urge to put it on and when I did, I felt like the necklace was where it was supposed to be. I wanted to figure out why, but I was wasting enough time already. I decided that I could look at the orb later, I needed to get out of here now before people notice I'm gone. The satchel had two straps on it, so I slipped it on to my right and left shoulder with it hanging on my back. Then I looked at the sword again. I'm gonna need something to defend myself, all things considered. I grabbed the sword and a belt that had the sword's scabbard attached to it.

"What do you think you're doing?" I completely froze. A chill went down my spine. The voice that just spoke was that knight's! I slowly turned my head to where the knight was. "You can't eat all that pie by…yourself…ZZZZZZ" Oh thank God, he was just talking in his sleep! "Ok, I need to leave, NOW", I said to myself. I put on the belt, put the sword in the scabbard, and continued down the hall.

I went through a door leading to a huge hallway. "Wow" was all I could say about it. From the corner of my eye, I saw another knight, but he was on the ground. I took a closer look and saw that he was unconscious. "I wonder if Lee did this …probably. Anyway, I better hurry up and find the exit to this place." I went up the stairs that was nearby and started my search. I went through hall after hall to find my way out, but this place was huge. It didn't help that a lot of things looked the same, so I got confused from time to time. Some hallways I didn't even go down because some hallways had too many guards and I didn't want to risk it. Along the way, I came across a mirror and took a good look at myself. I was dark skinned, had really short black hair, had brown eyes with the glasses over them, wore a light brown pants and a white shirt that both looked pretty crumpled up. "Well, don't I look like prince charming", I said to myself. It made me chuckle a little bit. I may be in the situation I'm in, but laughing a bit was something I needed at the moment.

After what felt like hours, I turned and went down another hallway and then I noticed there was a smell of food nearby. I didn't want to attract attention to myself, but I was really hungry and whatever I was smelling at the moment smelled REALLY good. I followed my nose until I stood in front of one the doors. I slowly opened it and peeked inside. The room had a few long tables and some chairs. Across the room was table with bowls stacked on top of each other and a big pot on it, which had steam come out of it. No seemed to be in the room at the time.

"This must be where the knights come eat", I said. I walked in the room and slowly shut the door behind me. I walked up to the pot and toke the top off. Inside the big pot was what seemed like curry. I took a deep sniff, taking the wonderful smell all in. "Hhhmmm…, I'm sure the knights won't notice a little bit of this gone", I said as I grabbed a bowl. As I reached for the big spoon to scoop the curry, I notice that there were two bowls already used. "Do the knights just come here when they're hungry...if that's the case, I think I better eat this quick." Even thought it was hot, I ate the bowl of curry as fast as I could. When I finished, my stomach and my taste buds were very satisfied. "Ahhh, that curry is probably the best curry I ever tasted. Whoever made this really knows how to cook", I said. I got up from my seat put the bowl I used with the other two. When I turned and started walking to the door, I immediately stopped. At the door was a girl who looked as young as me…I think. When did she walk in here? She wore iron gauntlets, iron boots, black pants, a dark pink shirt covered by a breast plate that had some kind of symbol on it, and a had a necklace that wrapped firmly around her neck that was yellow with a red diamond shaped crystal in the middle. She had silver hair that was shoulder length, part of it was in a ponytail, brown eyes, and was dark skinned like me. "Thank you, it's nice to get some praise every once in a while for my cooking….even if you are a prisoner", she said with a smile on her face. Oh crap, I think I'm screwed!

As she started walking towards me, I started to panic. What am I gonna do now? I still don't know what kind of people these knights are and since I don't know why I'm here in the first place; who knows what will happen to me! The girl stopped a few inches in front of me, her smile from before disappeared and her face no longer showed any kind of emotion.

Then she said, "So, you want do this the easy way or the hard way?" I had a feeling I knew what the hard way was and as far as I know, she could be some high ranking knight or something. …Wait a second, since we're the only ones here and she knows I escaped from that cell, she may know why I'm here in the first place and I may be able to still escape if I'm lucky. I better stay on her good side for now if I want answers.

"L-Look, I don't want any trouble. However, I was wondering if I could ask you something. It's really important" I said with my hands up. She thought about it for a second and said, "Normally I would take you back, regardless of your question. However, I'm in a really good mood so I'll humor you for a minute, but my answer will vary depending on whatever you ask." Gaining a little confidence, I cleared my throat and said, "Do you know why I was I locked up, I don't know why and I really want to know." "That depends, what's your name", she asked. "My name? My name is…uh…"

That's odd. Why am I having so much trouble giving my name, I've had it since I was born, so what's the issue? "For some reason I can't…remember…" I said with my words trailing off. Then it hit. I can't remember why I'm here, I couldn't remember what I looked like, and I can't remember my name. "I…I…can't remember anything!" I started freaking out. I put my hands on my head and I felt a big concussion on the side of my forehead. "W-When did I get a concussion?!"

The girl, who I forgot was in front of me for a second, had a confused and kind of angry look on her face. "If this is some kind of joke, I suggest you stop", she said. I quickly became angry.

"A joke?! You think this some kind of joke?! How the heck do you think this is a joke?!" My voice was growing louder and louder, almost to the point where it was a yell. The girl quickly retaliated. "Hey, you better watch your tone with me!" This just made me even angrier.

"I don't give a crap about my tone, what I care about is why I can't remember anything!" I was yelling at her now, my confusion and fear turned into almost complete rage! How could she treat this as a joke?! The nerve of her!

"Don't make me-", she started saying before I cut her off.

"What?! Don't make you what? Kill me, torture me, I sure as heck don't know since I don't know who or what kind of people you knights are! For all I know, which is very little, you guys may be sickos kidnapping people and locking them up for no reason at all!" At this point I had angered the girl and she started shouting back.

"How dare you! The Imperial Knights serve and protect the people of Zaphias and anyone else on Terra Lumireis!" Zaphias? Terra Lumireis?! "What the heck is Zaphias and Terra Lumireis?!", I responded back. She seemed surprised at my question and said, "You must be some great actor if you're trying to pull this! What are you going say next?! That you don't know what blastia is?!" This wasn't going anywhere and if we kept shouting, we would draw unwanted attention, for me anyway.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, and said, "Look…I don't know what blastia is or Zaphias or Terra Lumireis or even who I am. I don't even know who you are and where I am. And this isn't some joke or acting, I seriously don't know." She stood there and stared at me for a while before saying, "Ok…first off, my name is Annette Albane. Secondly, let's say you're telling the truth and you really have forgotten everything, escaping from your cell doesn't help your case. …Look, if you go back to your cell quietly, I'll see if I can help…", before she finished her sentence, there was scream coming the hallway.

"What the heck was that", I asked. Annette ran to the door and opened it and before leaving she turned her head in my direction and said "Stay here." And she bolted out the door. I wonder what that is all about. A minute later, I heard the sound metal clashing together. Wait…I hear more screaming…What the heck is going on out there?! Scared as I was, I stepped to the door and peeked out of it. I saw knights were on the floor…in blood. I cringed a little as I opened the door more and more. When I opened it completely, I saw some of the knights fighting a man who had red and blonde hair, wore a dark green shirt with some thin red armor, and was wielding two short blades. He was attacking the knights head on and seemed to be taking them down with ease. One by one, the knights fell, leaving one knight left. It was Annette! She tried to attack him using horizontal slashes, but he dodged them by stepping back. On her third swing, he ducked and propelled himself forward and slashed her side. She was in pain, but she kept attacking. Every strike she tried to make, he would parry it easily.

"Hahaha, is that the best you can do?", the man said with a big malicious grin on his face. "Just-Just go down!", Annette said frustrated. She tried to attack again, but the man rushed in and kneed her in the stomach which was followed by a spinning kick, causing her to hit the ground on her back. As she tried to get up, the man walked up to her and stood over her.

"It's been fun, but it's time to end this", he said as he raised his blade. Unconsciously, I ran towards them and said "STOP!" Both of them looked in my direction. I unsheathed the sword and took the best defensive stance I could think of.

"L-Leave her alone", I said.

"What do you think you're doing", Annette asked. "I could probably ask myself that same question", I replied. The man started to walk towards me while saying, "You want in too? That's fine with me! The more, the merrier!" The closer he got to me, the more I would shake in fear. If Annette and the knights were token down so quickly and are most likely trained for things like this, how in the world was I going do? Before the man got close to me, another man in a hood appeared!

"Zagi, we have an escape route, we have to go now" the hooded man said. The man, who is apparently called Zagi, had a disapproving look on face.

"Aaarrrggg, why do I keep getting interrupted when I'm having fun today" Zagi said. He looked over back at me and said, "Consider yourself lucky! Next time we meet, you'll find yourself at the end of my blade!" And with that, he turned and ran towards the hooded man and they both bolted down the hall. I breathed a sigh of relief. Who knows what would have happened if that guy didn't show up! I shiver at the thought! I turned and looked at Annette. She was bleeding, along with the 4 other knights who were on the ground.

"Hey, you need to get that patched up! I'll go get help!" I turned and ran down the hall. "H-Hey wait a sec-!" Annette tried calling out to me, but I was already too far down the hall. I wanted to escape, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I left them like that. I went from room to room, looking for someone, anyone who could help!

After the 10th door, I found room with some knights, 6 in total. "Hey! Who are you", one knight asked while pointing his spear at me. "Please, some of the knights were hurt and are bleeding to death, you have to help them!" The knights looked at each other for a second and then one of them said, "How do we know you aren't one of intruders trying to trick us?" Crap! If they think I'm an Intruder, they may ignore me and lock me back up and who knows how long it may take before they find the wounded knights!

"Look, I'm not one of the intruders, I'm-" I hesitated at first, but I took a big gamble. "I'm a prisoner who tried to escape, but one of the knights named Annette caught me. Before she could take me back, some guy named Zagi attacked her and a few other knights. They were able to fend him off, but they are wound and bleeding really bad and they need help. So I'm begging you, please help them!" I knew the risk I had just token, but it was either that or find some way to help them. And I didn't know, to what extent, how bad they're injuries were and I didn't want to take too long. The knights looked at each other again.

"What should we do", one knight asked. Then a voice from nowhere said, "He may be telling the truth." The knights turned their heads toward a bookshelf in the room. From behind it, came a guy who, like Alexei, looked…important, to say the least. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, wore a white shirt that had a long sharp collar which was covered by a long sleeved green jacket- looking vest, and blue pants. "M-Master Ioder", one of the knights said. "I doubt someone would put themselves at such great risk just to trick someone", the man named Ioder said. "Are you sure about this sir", one knight asked. Ioder crossed his arms and put his right hand on his chin and seemed to be thinking.

"Hhhmmm….well just to safe, 3 of you got check to see if what he says is true. The other 3 will stay here with us." He turned his head in my direction. "So, where are the wounded knights?", he asked. "Um…I don't know the place exactly, but its where a big pot of food and tables were, along with some bowls and eating utensils", I replied. It wasn't very descriptive, but I didn't know what it was called, so I just told them what I though was important enough.

One walked towards the door, turned and faced the other nights and said" That must be the Dining Hall! All right, you two", he pointed to two of the knights, "come with me, the others will stay here. Let be quick about it!" The three knights exited room, one of knights left behind in the room blocked the door so I wouldn't be able to leave. Looks like I have to wait.

I took a seat on the ground and waited for the knights to return. During that time, I tried remembering who I was, but nothing came to me. Ioder, standing on the other side of the room, asked, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I got your name." I was so deep in thought; I didn't really pay attention to what he said. However, I unconsciously answered him.

"Joshua." I said. It took me 3 seconds to realize what I just said. My eyes opened wide and I stood up with my hands on my head. "M-My name is Joshua H*****…I-I remembered something!" Ioder then got a confused look on his face. "Wait, what do you mean by…", he started to say before he was interrupted by a knight coming through the door.

"Master Ioder! He was right, there were badly wounded Knights by the Dining Hall! One of the knights named Annette Albane confirmed what he said as well." Ioder seemed to be happy about the news just brought to him. "Please have someone tend to their wounds immediately", Ioder said "Yes sir", the knight replied. Ioder then turned his attention to me. "I must thank you for your help. It is greatly appreciated", he said.

"I'm happy I was able to help. I couldn't just leave them like that", I said. "I'm happy you were around, it could have gotten worse if you hadn't told us what happened. …However…" Ioder's smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. Suddenly, the knights surrounded me, weapons out. Oh yeah… I forgot, in order to help those wounded knights, I had to sell myself out. I probably didn't need to, but I wanted to help those knights so much I didn't really think about it. "I'm sorry Joshua", Ioder said. He seemed like he didn't want to have me put back in jail. Heck, I didn't want to go back either, but how was I going to get out of this?

"Hey, it's okay. Although, I was wondering if you could give a message to Annette Albane for me", I said. Ioder thought about it for a second and then said, "Well, I'm sure I can do that for you, it's the least I could. Although, I wish I could do a bit more…" I looked behind me to where the door was. Two knights were in front of me, and one was behind me, in front of the door. I still have a chance to get out of here, but I only get one shot at this. So I need to make every move count!

"Could you tell her this: Thank you for trying to consider my feelings and that I'm sorry…" I stopped and looked down. I looked at the knight behind me from the corner of my eye. He had a spear. If I could make it unusable just for a few seconds…I may be able to escape. ...Ok, here goes nothing! I quickly turned and grabbed the spear head. "Hey, what are you-" the knight started to say. I pushed the spear out the way and, to my surprise, tackled the knight to the floor. I ran to the door, turned my head back in Ioder's direction and said, "…that I still left even though I know she didn't want me to". And with that, I bolted out the door and down the hall. I heard one of the knights yelling out to me, "Hey, Stop!" I felt a little bad though. Both Annette and Ioder seemed like nice people and wanted to help me, but I'm still trying to escape. Oh well…

I ran past a few halls and toke a left down one of them. At the end of the hall I saw some sort of statue. When I got closer, I was right about the statue. However, what I didn't see was that there were two people standing next to it. One was a girl with pink hair, light green eyes, and wore a white and pink dress that had a very interesting design to it. The other person was…Lee, the guy from my cell! They didn't notice me at first, but the girl, who was looking at Lee, turned her head in my direction.

"*Gasp*" Lee then turned around and was facing me now. "Who are you…wait… have we met before", he asked. I was a bit surprised that he remembered me, considering I was on the floor partly unconsciously.

"Wow, I'm surprised you remember me, considering I was on the floor partly unconsciously", I replied. "You're that guy who was lying on the floor in my cell, what are doing here", he asked. The girl seemed to be alarmed by what he said. "C-Cell, what do you mean", she asked. Lee turned to her and said, "I'll explain later, right now we need to get out of here." So they're trying to escape too…

"Hey, do you know a way out, can I come with you", I asked. Lee gave me a blank stare, which made me worry a bit. What if he says no and leaves me behind, what then? After standing there for a minute, the girl looking back and forth between us, I tried persuading him. What else could I do?

"Look, I have no idea who I am, or where I am, or why I was in a jail cell. If I stay here, I feel like something bad will happen to me and I won't find out the truth. Call me crazy, but I feel like I would safer with you than if I was here. And I'm pretty sure you could kill me considering my fighting skill seem like they are next to nothing. So please, help me get out of here. I'm begging you!"

I was taking another gamble with this. I was pretty much putting my trust in someone I didn't even know, but…I felt like he wasn't a bad person. It was either that or go back to the cell, which I was NOT going to do. I heard the sound of clinking armor from a distance and heard a voice go, "Maybe down this way." I looked at Lee again. "Please…" I said in a sad tone. The girl looked at Lee and said, "What are we going to do Yuri?" Lee, who is really named Yuri, sighed then said, "All right you two, let's hurry and get out of here." I could feel the happiness rise up inside me.

"T-Thank you so much" I said. "Hey, don't thank me yet. Anyway, let's go down the ladder", he said. Yuri pointed to a hole that had a ladder going down in it, something I didn't notice at first. "Estellise, you go first", he said. "Ok', she said.

She went down the ladder, when she reached to a certain point, Yuri said, "All right, your next." "Are you sure", I asked. "Yeah, don't worry. Just go." And with that I went down as fast as I could. Finally, Yuri came down, pulling the statue over the hole. When we reached the bottom, I looked at our current surrounding. "It looks like some sort of sewers", I said. "It must be the sewer system for the castle", Yuri said. "Let's try and find an exit." I didn't know where this would lead, but it wasn't like I had any other choice. "…Ok, let's go" I said.

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**Author's Note**

Hhhmmm, I wonder if anyone caught the reference I put in this chapter... If you caught it, Kudos to you! If you want, review and tell me what you think of my stuff! I would really appreciate it! Thank you and have a nice day...or night or whenever your reading this! Have a nice (Insert time of day here)!


	3. Chapter 2: Sweet Escape?

**Author's Note**

Hello again! This chapter has less words and is being uploaded later than I wanted it too. The next chapter will be a heck of a lot better! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! (And again, forgive me for any errors. I will fix them later.)

* * *

**Chapter 2 : Sweet Escape?**

As we made our way through the sewers, I decided to try and start a conversation.

"Uh…Yuri and Estellise right? I was wonder, who are you guys and why were you trying escape. Well, actually…didn't you say something about a Lower Quarters, Yuri? "

"Yeah, someone named Mordio took the aqua blastia from the fountain, it caused the fountain to go out of control and it started to flood the lower quarter. I tried getting it back, but he got away and I ended in the castle prison", Yuri said without looking back at me.

"That's terrible", Estellise said.

"So, you plan on going after him", I asked. "Yep." He said. "What about you Estellise", I asked. "I need to get to my a friend of mine named Flynn, I have to warn him about something.", she replied. Ok, so one person is trying to get something back from some thief for some people and the other is trying to warning someone about something. It kind of made my reason seem like it wasn't that good of a reason.

"What about you?"

"Huh?" Estellise was trying asking me something while I was thinking.

"What about you? You said you didn't know who or where you were, was that true", she asked. I looked down at the water and said, "Yeah. I woke up in a cell having no idea who I was or where I was. From what the knights said, I was apparently there for about 3 day, for what reason, I don't know. All I know is my name that I have a concussion on my head." Estellise looked a bit curious about what I said.

"I think I read something about that, it some sort of condition. What was it called again…oh right, Amnesia! From what I've read about, It's only temporary, you should start remembering things after a while", She said. "Amnesia huh?", I said. Well, that explains what is wrong with me, but I still don't know WHY I'm this way. Maybe I'll remember later on.

"Hey, you said you remember your name right", Yuri asked. "Oh right, I never told you my name, sorry about that. Guess there is no other better time than right now to introduce myself." I ran in front of them and stuck my hand out. My name is Joshua, nice to meet you." They both looked at each other for a second, than Estellise walked up to me and shook my hand. "I'm Estellise, nice to meet you too." Yuri walked up to me next and shook my hand as well. "I'm Yuri." I don't know why, but I felt like that if I tried hard enough, the 3 of us could be great friends. Even though I didn't really know anything about them and only met them today, I had a really strong feeling in my gut for some reason.

It didn't take long before we found the ladder that lead to the exit. The exit was pretty similar to the entrance; both had a statue over them. As we crawled out of the hole, we had to shield our eyes a little bit from the sunlight since we were in a low lighted sewer for a while and it was really bright outside.

"Man, it's bright. *Sigh* It's already morning. I wasted an entire night", Yuri said. He held his hand over his eyes while looking at our surrounds. "Looks like it led to the royal quarter." "Judging from the name, it's safe to assume nobles and the rich live here," I asked. "Yeah, pretty much" Yuri replied. Estellise, who also taking in our surroundings, said, "Everything looks so different from the windows of the castle."

Wait…that was a castle we were just in? Well it does make sense, considering how big the place was. Also, I'm pretty sure Yuri said something about a castle back in the sewers, but it must have not clicked in my head at that moment. "Ah, come on. You sound like this is your first time out of the castle", Yuri said. Estellise turned away from Yuri and looked at the ground. "...Uh, well, I..." I looked at Estellise and asked, "You've never been out side of the castle before, have you?"

"I guess a lady who lives in a castle can't just take a walk outside whenever she wants", Yuri said. Estellise turned back around in Yuri's direction. "Y-yes, you're right." She replied.

I felt kind of bad for Estellise, living her entire life in a castle. Always contained in its walls, completely isolated from the outside world. I don't think I could live my whole life in a castle; there were so many things in the world she was missing out on. Unfortunately, I can't remember what exactly she was missing out on at the moment. I looked back at Yuri, who seemed to be holding up his hand for a high-five. "Well, hey. At least we made it out of the castle", He said. Estellise walked over to him and poked his hand. This caused me and Yuri to chuckle a bit, which led Estellise to get a confused look on her face. "Um. Was that not right", she asked. "Nah... It's fine...", Yuri said.

"So Estellise, what are you gonna do now that you're out?"

"I'm going to find Flynn."

"Do you know where he went?"

"The other day, he said he was going off on a knight's pilgrimage."

"Ohh, that thing. Going around the cities of the empire piling up good deeds?"

"Yes. That's why I'm going to the City of Blossoms, Halure. Halure is the first place that knights traditionally visit on a pilgrimage. " Hhhmmm, Halure sounds like a really pretty place.

"So you'll need to go outside the barrier", Yuri said. I raised an eyebrow when he said that. "Barrier? What are you talking about Yuri", I asked. Yuri and Estellise both seemed surprised at my question. "Your mind must be really wiped clean. The barriers are what keep monsters from getting into the city", Yuri said. Monsters? Part of me just didn't believe that monsters existed, but then again, I don't know what kind of life I had before this. So I can't really say for sure for now.

"Have you ever been beyond the barrier Yuri" Estellise asked. "Little while back. I'd like to go, but I can't just leave the lower quarter like it is", Yuri replied. "Come on. I'll show you the way out of town. It's on the way to the lower quarter."

"Thank you Yuri." With Yuri leading the way, we started our walk down to the lower quarter. "Oh yeah. Joshua, what are you gonna do now", Yuri asked. I couldn't really think of an answer.

"I don't really know. My main focus was getting out of the castle and considering everything that was going in there, I didn't think that far ahead", I replied. "Well…you could stay in the lower quarters for a while. And during the meantime, you could ask around and see if anyone knows you", Yuri said. "Hey, that's not a bad idea Yuri", I said.

As we continued our walk, we reach a point where there was a downward slope with the builds starting to look less…grand. Before we could walk down it, someone shouted, " You there, fugitives! Halt, I say!" I turned and saw a few knights heading down the stairs.

"The jig is up!"

"Fooools! Enough grandstanding, arrest them!"

Wait…do they mean… "Oh crap", I said. Estellise turned to Yuri with a worried look on her face. "W-what should we do", she asked. Yuri looked at the floor, he seemed to be looking for something. "First you pick up one of these..." Yuri kneeled down and picked up a rock. "Then go like this!" Yuri threw the rock and to my surprise, the knights fell over like dominoes.

"Wow, you have quite the arm there Yuri", I said. "Thanks. Alright, let's get to the lower quarter", Yuri said walking to the slope. As we walked down into lower quarter, an older man walked up to us.

"Yuri! Where've you been?!"

"I got an invitation to the castle and had the most marvelous time." Yuri replied sarcastically.

"Of all the... And who's the young lady and young gentlemen" the older man asked.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Estellise."

"I'm Joshua, nice to meet you."

"I'm Hank and the pleasure is all mine. Er, more importantly, about those Imperial Knights…" Hank said walking over to Yuri. I wanted to listen in on the conversation, but I needed to see if anyone around this place knew me. "Hey Estellise, I need to do something really quick so I'll be back in a minute." "Oh…Ok", she replied. I looked at all the people around the area and choose to ask a woman taking down her landry.

"Um…excuse me Mam. " "Yes?" "Um… I was wondering…would you happen to know who I am?" "Well…what's your name?" "Joshua." The lady put her basket down and stared at me for a minute. "Hhhmmm…I'm sorry, but I don't think I've ever met you before", she said. "…Oh…well do you think someone else may know who I am", I said hopeful. With a frown she said, "Most people who live in the lower quarter know each. However, maybe if you tell me where you're from, I could probably be more helpful." I hung my head down and frowned. "Unfortunately, I don't know where that is. About an hour ago, I woke up with no idea who I was and why I had this concussion on my head. All I know is my name." The lady looked at the concussion I pointed out on my head. "Oh you poor thing…I wish I could help you a lot more, but I can't. I'm sorry…" The lady stared at the floor with a frown on her face.

A young boy suddenly came up to lady. "Hey Martha, do you know where…?" The boy stopped mid-sentence and looked at me. "Hey, your that guy the Imperial knights brought in to the city a few days back", the young boy said. "Was I", I asked. The lady named Martha crossed her arms and thought for a moment.

"I remember that. They usually do that when…" Martha cut her sentence off and her frown fro before came back. "When what", I asked. "They usually do that when taking people from another town or city to the prison here for certain reasons. Some places don't have jails or prisons, so sometimes people who are needed to be put in jail are transported here. It could be that or another reason entirely. And for all we know, you could be from anywhere", she said sadly. So now I really have no idea or clue of who I am or where I'm from. I could be from the other side of the world!

"*Sigh* Well I guess I have only one option left…I'm going to have to leave the city and find out myself", I said. Martha looked at me very concerned. "A-Are you sure you want to do something like that at this moment? It's dangerous traveling outside the barrier, especially if you're unprepared."

"Thanks for your concern, but I need go. Besides, the knights will come looking for me and I don't want to get any of you into trouble." Suddenly, a familiar voice shouted, Yuri Lowell and Joshua H*****! You've given my two lackeys a headache. Now be good boys and turn yourself iiin!" I turned my head in the direction of the voice. "Speak of the devil…"I said. I looked back Martha and said, "Looks like it's time for me to go."

"I wish I could be more of help to you. At least I can help you get away from the Imperial Knights." Martha said. She then turned to the small boy. "Ok Ted, get ready", she told him. "Ok", he said before running off somewhere. Martha turned back to me.

"You better get going. And don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Thanks, I owe you."

"Just come back alive with your memories and we can call it even."

"Ok, well… See you soon!" I waved goodbye and ran towards Yuri and Estellise, who were already leaving. "Hey guys, don't leave me behind", I shouted. As I ran past Hank he shouted to me saying, "Watch yourself out there and don't let Yuri get to ya, as much as pain he may be!" I smiled and shouted back, "I will, bye!" I could see the knight behind us, but they became bombarded with the people of the lower quarter. They were helping us escape the knights. Wow, people here seem to be very nice. As I ran to catch up to Yuri and Estellise, they stopped for some reason. A few seconds I found out why. A large, loud crowd of people came rushing our way and I had to push my way through the crowd. As I was doing so, I heard a female voice say, "Follow your heart and you'll find the truth you seek." "Wait...who…"

"HaHa, don't worry. You'll know what I mean soon enough. Until we meet face-to-face, Farewell!"

"H-Hey wait a second!"

As the 3 of us separated ourselves from the crowd, I looked back at the crowd. "I wonder who that was" I said to myself. Well she did say we would meet face-to-face…kinda anyway. After distancing ourselves from the knights, we stopped for a minute to catch our breath.

"Wow, Yuri. They're all going to miss you so much." Estellise said. "Honestly, they're probably thrilled to finally get rid of me." Yuri noticed he had a bag he didn't have before. He looked in the bag and then had an upset look on his face. "Hey, hold it...! Who put money in here?! I can't take this", he said. He started to go back the direction we came, but he didn't very far because one of the knight was around the corner shouting at the people of the lower quarter. "Haaalt! Get out of my way!" Yuri turned back, putting the bag of money back in his shirt. "Huh... I guess I'll have to keep it for now", Yuri said running back towards me and Estellise. A second later, one of the knights came running around the corner. We started running away, but as I looked behind us, I saw something came out from behind some boxes. It looked like a dog. It got in the knight's way, causing him to trip and fall almost completely face first. "What…", the knight said looking somewhat dazed from the dog's quick action. The dog started walking towards us as Yuri said, "Nice one, Repede."

"A dog", Estellise said who seemed surprised.

"Well, for now it's north to Deidon Hold", Yuri said.

" What? Oh, right!", Estellise said.

"I'm not sure how long we'll be together, but here's to the road ahead, Joshua and Estelle." Estellise had slowly gotten the same confused look on her face from earlier.

"Yes, I...? Huh? ...Es...telle...? Estelle... Estelle." She seemed to be caught off guard by the nickname Yuri gave her.

"To the road ahead, Yuri and Joshua", she said.

"To the road ahead, Yuri and Estelle, I said cheerfully. I looked one last time at the lower quarter.

"See ya later", I said.

" Well, so long for now." Yuri said.

"We hope to be back soon." Estelle said.

We all turned around heading for the city gates and eventually outside the city and the barrier. I felt somewhat relived to be out of the city, even though monsters roamed about. "So, how does it feel to be outside the barrier for the first time Estelle", Yuri asked. "Well, I guess kind of overwhelming", she said looking at the path ahead of us. "Well, consider this is the first time she's been outside the castle AND outside the barrier, I can see why it's overwhelming. Also the fact that she experienced both in less than an hour", I said. "I guess so. Anyway, we should start heading for Deidon Hold before it starts getting dark", Yuri said. We started walking north as Estelle kept the conversation going.

"Your friends were so nice and generous, Yuri! Not only did they help us get away from the knights, they gave us a map, equipment, and even money!"

"*Sigh* They can't afford this. They can barely get by as it is."

"Well, I'm sure they're worried about you, and want you to have a safe journey."

"It's more likely they're just glad to be rid of a trouble-making kid."

"That's not true!"

"Yeah Yuri. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give you that stuff if they weren't worried about you", I said.

"Guess I can't come back empty-handed, now that they've given us all this stuff. Now I gotta bring back the aque blastia. No matter what", Yuri said.

I'm pretty sure Yuri would have left regardless. He seemed determined to get the aqua blastia back. The fact he was willing to travel to who knows where for who knows how long to get something stolen back from a thief for the sake of other people who need it, I couldn't help but admire that.

During our walk towards Deidon Hold, Yuri and Estelle filled me in on what blastia was, who the imperial knights were, and any other basic stuff that I have seemed to forgotten. After an hour or so, it was starting to get dark and Deidon Hold didn't seem to be coming into view. So more than likely we would camp on the floor for the night. I then suddenly remembered that I wanted to look at orb in my bag from earlier. I took of my bag and took out the orb. I held it with two fingers and stared at it. It was the same way I saw it earlier, small and clear. I held it up towards the setting sun and it started to shine. I was so focused, however, I didn't notice Yuri trying to get my attention.

"Hey Joshua, come on", he said. As I ran towards them, I saw a wagon with two people standing in front of it. I didn't pay attention to where I was stepping, so I ended up tripping and dropping the orb. It began to roll down the small slope it landed near. "Hold on a second, I dropped something", I said. As I went after the orb, I found a lake that apparently nearby. The sun was going down, but the sunlight on it at the moment made the lake look really pretty. However, I needed to find that orb. I didn't search long, because as I started to look, someone appeared in front of me hold the orb in his hand.

"Is this yours", he asked. "Y-Yeah", I said a bit caught off guard by his sudden appearance. I looked at him for a second. He had crimson eyes, long black hair, wore a red bandanna and a long red cloak held in place over his shoulders and lower face by several buckles. His shirt and pants were black, he had a sword on his left hip and small weird shaped weapon on his right. He had on REALLY pointy boots and for some reason had a fingerless glove on his right arm, but had his left covered by a big gauntlet that covered his hand and most of his arm.

As I took back the orb, he turned around and started walking away. "T-Thank you", I said. He turned head and said, "You shouldn't be wandering by yourself near night time, you better hurry back to your friends". Maybe he saw us coming from earlier, I wonder. I started walking back, but then I stopped. I turned back around to the mysterious man. "But what about y-", I tried to asked before I realized he was already gone. "Huh?! Where did he…" I said confused. There weren't a whole bunch of trees around and considering how tall he was, how did he leave so quickly? I scratched my head confuse on the matter. I decided to just not think about it for now and catch up to Yuri Estelle.

After getting back, I found out that the wagon was "The King of Adventure Travelers' lodge", a traveling inn run by two people named Karen and Rich. They feed us soup and made the arrangements for where we would be sleeping. We all slept on mats with pillows on the floor, but it was better than just the bare floor itself. As everyone started to go to sleep, I looked at the stars with question going through my head again. Who am I, Where am I from, Why did I get Amnesia, and many other questions. I would figure that out eventually, I'm sure of it, but how long would it take? Well…no matter how long it takes, I will find out sooner or later. As I pushed my concerns to the back of my head, I continued to look at the stars. Eventually, I fell asleep.

Once again, I found myself surrounded by darkness. However this time, there was a door a few feet away from me. I slowly walked towards the door, worried about what may be behind it. As I opened it, a bright, blind light emitted from the door. I covered my eyes until it dimmed down and I realized my surroundings suddenly changed drastically. The darkness that was surrounding me before, was replaced by bright sunlight and a large field of yellow flowers. The flowers looked really nice and couldn't help but stare at them. Suddenly I heard footsteps come towards me. I turned around to see it was Titania.

"Titania…"I said.

"It's nice to see to you again. I see that the start of your journey has gone well" She said with a smile.

"Hey, was that what you were talking about before? A journey to find out who I am",I asked

"Yes and No. That's part of it."

"Part of it? What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately I can't tell you."

"Why not? I mean, you may know something that could help me remember"

"If I tell you now, you may not be strong enough to handle the truth. It could also lead to, not only yours, but also your companies' lives being cut short."

"I-It's that serious…" I was starting to worry, what kind of person was I? Was I a good person, a mean person, a criminal, what was I? Titania chuckled and said, "Do not worry, the answers will come to you eventually. Just follow your heart and you'll find them." I then remembered something someone said to me earlier.

"Someone said nearly the same thing you just said when I was leaving the city" I said. Titania chuckled again and said, "So, she is already on the move I see." Before I could ask who she meant, everything got really bright and I couldn't see anything. Suddenly, I heard Titania voice. "I may not be able to tell you everything, but I will help you anyway I can. Until we meet again."


	4. Chapter 3: Things get Crazy!

**Author's Note**

I don't know why, but I had a really hard time making and uploading this chapter, but I finally got it done! Thank God! Anyway, in this chapter I try to do a battle scene. It isn't very long, but this is my first attempt, so I didn't want to do too much. If it's good, great! If it isn't, well...I'll get better. I hope you enjoy!

P.S.: I kind of forgot about Repede in the last chapter, sorry about that. He will be appearing more in this chapter.

I do not own Tales of Vesperia in any shape or form.

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**Chapter 3: Things get Crazy!**

As my vision returned, I saw that I was no longer in a flower field. I was back on my sleeping mat near "The King of Adventure Travelers' lodge". I sat up and saw that everyone was already up, eating breakfast.

"Good Morning, did you sleep well", Kate asked.

"Yeah", I said while yawning.

"I hope you like omelets." She said handing me a plate with omelets.

"Thank you." I wasn't sure if I did eat omelets, but the smell of it made me think otherwise.

I was about to eat my omelet, but then I noticed that Estelle wasn't with us.

"Hey Yuri, where's Estelle", I asked.

"She's over there", he said as he pointed to where she was. "She's been standing over there for a while now."

"Do you know why?"

"No. After eating breakfast, she got up and went over there."

While I did want to eat my breakfast right away, I couldn't help but wonder why Estelle separated herself from us. It could just be nothing, but part of me just wanted to be sure.

"I'm gonna go check on her", I said as I was getting up. I put my plate on the floor and walked over to Estelle.

"Morning", I said.

"Oh! Good morning Joshua." She said.

"Hey, Yuri said you've been over here by yourself for a while, I came to check if you were alright."

"I'm fine, sorry if I worried you. I've just been thinking about something"

"Mind if I ask what about?"

"Well…it's just that…For a long time, I've always wanted to leave the castle and see more of the world than just from the window of the castle, but I was never allowed to. When I decided to leave to the castle to find Flynn, part of me was happy, that after all this time, I was finally going to leave the castle. And…it makes me feel guilty...and kind of selfish.

I stood there silent, wondering what to say. After a minute or two, I asked, "Mind if I ask you something?"

"I don't mind."

"Your main reason for leaving the castle was to look for Flynn and warn him about something, right?"

"Yes."

"And you were determined to leave the castle for that reason, right?"

"Of course!"

"Well, in my personal opinion, I don't think you should feel guilty or selfish." Estelle looked at me a bit surprised.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, since you've never left the castle before, I can see why you would be happy to finally leave. However, you've never tried to leave the castle before like you have, right?"

"No"

"My point exactly. If you really wanted to, you could have done the same thing at an earlier time. And you shouldn't feel bad just because you were happy about leaving the castle. Someone in your shoes would most likely reaction the same way. That's what I think."

Estelle tilted her head down and stayed silent for a minute. She looked back at me and said, "Thank you Joshua, I feel better now."

"Heh heh, glad I could help", I said with a big grin on my face. "Okay, I need to hurry and eat breakfast so we can go. Talk to you later Estelle", I said as I turned around started to walk back.

"O-Ok", she said.

I went back and started eating my omelet, which was really good. After finishing, we got ourselves ready to get back on the road. As I was getting ready, I noticed a long pipe on the ground that looked familiar. I tried to pick it up, but I was startled by a loud, unexpected bark.

I realized that it came from the dog that Yuri called Repede. He picked up the pipe with his mouth and walked over to where Yuri was. To be honest, I had forgotten that he was with us. Which was weird, considering the fact that this dog was purple, had an eye patch, a pipe, something that looked like a knife on his back, and a really long and curvy tail. I should pay attention a little bit more.

We said our goodbyes to Kate and Rich and started walking on the path we needed to go. However, Estelle stood where she was earlier, completely unaware of us being nearby. She stood there, mumbling to herself. "...Estelle... Estelle...", she said.

"Hey, you coming? We don't have all day here", Yuri said to her. She must have been in deep thought because she didn't hear him.

"Estelle... Estelle..." she kept mumbling to herself.

"Looks like she's in her own little world...Hey! Estelle!" Yuri shouted. That got her attention.

"Oh, right! Sorry, I'm coming". She said as she as she walked towards us.

Yuri sighed and said, "Do they not have nicknames where she's from?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't", I said. It seemed clear that that was the case. She's probably trying to get used to her new nickname, considering she has most likely never had one before.

* * *

As we continue our way down the road, Deidon Hold was in our sights. I was about ready to cheer, but Repede stopped in his tracks and started sniffing the air.

"What is it Repede", Yuri asked. Repede continued to sniff the air for a few seconds, then turned towards a huge bush and started growling. Yuri threw his sword in the air, as it came down, he grabbed the handle and swung it, causing the scabbard to slide off and fly to the ground.

"I think we have company", Yuri said.

"Wait…you don't mean…", I started to say. Suddenly, the bushes started shaking and a few seconds later, a small pack of wolves rushed out and started to circle us. Estelle and I unsheathed our swords, readying ourselves. There were 3 wolves in total, circling us as we stood with our backs to each other.

"You guys ready", Yuri asked.

"Y-Yes", Estelle said.

"I-I guess", I said. To be honest, I was kinda scared. I mean, I didn't really know how to fight and running away didn't seem like an option this time. I just didn't want to get hurt, or worse.

After cycling us for almost a minute, one of wolves lunged at Yuri. Yuri moved out of the way, while doing so, he spun around and slashed the wolf. The wolf hit the ground and lied there…lifeless. At the same time, the other two wolves started attacking Estelle, Repede, and me. Repede took on one of the wolves himself, while me and Estelle took on the other. I tried to strike the wolf, but it kept dodging my attacks. I kinda wasn't too surprised since I was just swinging my sword like crazy. Luckily, I distracted it long enough for Estelle to slash its side. It flinched due to the hit and I quickly took the opportunity to use a downward slash, which thankfully was enough to take it down. I looked over to Repede to see how he was doing, only to see that he had already taken down the other wolf. Seeing all the wolves were taken care of, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is everyone okay", Yuri asked.

"I'm okay", Estelle replied.

I'm alright", I replied.

Repede just replied with a bark, though I was pretty sure he was fine. Yuri went to pick up his scabbard as Estelle and I sheathed our swords, Repede had already sheathed the knife he was fighting with. I was pretty happy that we got through that skirmish unscaved. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. As I turned back in the direction we were heading, Yuri yelled," Joshua, look out!" I turned around, only to see that there was still another wolf, and it was running straight towards me! I tried to pull out my sword, but I wasn't fast enough and the wolf tackled me to the ground.

"Aaaahhhh! Get it off me, get it off me", I cried. I tried pushing the wolf off, but it was more aggressive than the other wolves. It kept trying to bite my face, but I was able to keep its jaws at a good enough distance. Thankfully, Yuri and Repede quickly got it off me and had no issue taking it down. However, when the wolf was being pushed off, its claws scratched my left arm. It wasn't very big, but it still hurt.

"Joshua, are you ok", Yuri asked me.

"Other than my arm and my nerves, I'm fine" I said.

"Joshua, may I see your arm", Estelle asked.

"Uh...Sure." She took a hold of my arm near the scratch and closed her eyes. A bright circle with symbols appeared beneath and after a few seconds, a bright light appeared near my arm. In an instant, the scratch, and the pain from the scratch, disappeared.

"Wow", I said. I looked at where the scratch was. I looked long and hard, but it seemed like I never got the scratch.

"How did you…" I started to say. I then remembered something Estelle told me yesterday.

"You can do that because of your blastia, right" I asked. Estelle nodded her head.

"That's right. Like I said yesterday, a lot of things are possible because of blastia. Having the ability to heal is one of those things", She said.

"Hhhmmm…I still don't fully understand what blastia is or what they do, which may sound a little dumb , but I'm sure I will eventually…Anyway thank you Estelle, Yuri, Repede." I said.

After I dusted myself off, we continued down the road. We did run into a few more monsters, but they weren't as bad as the wolves were. After a couple of minutes, we finally made it to Deidon Hold. While Deidon Hold didn't seem big, it sure had a lot in it. As I looked around, I saw that Imperial Knight were almost everywhere, which worried me.

"Do you think those knights followed you here", Estelle asked.

"I wonder. Well, let's do our best not to stand out", Yuri replied.

"Okay. And I want to catch up with Flynn as soon as I can."

"All right, let's see if we can just pass through the Hold."

I was starting to get really worried. What if the Knights tried to come after us and we ended up fighting? I ran away from most of knights I ran into at the castle and considering my performance against those wolves, I wouldn't stand a chance against those knights. And even if we don't get caught, what about any other monster we would more than likely run into. Sure, some monsters aren't very difficult to deal with, but I'm pretty sure there are tougher ones than what we've run into already When I really think about though, Yuri seems to be the best fighter out of all of us. Estelle isn't the best, but it seems like she can handle herself well enough. Repede is...well, Repede I guess. And me...the most I can do at this point is swing my sword and hope for the best, which can only help me so much. From a tactical view, I would most likely be a liability to the group. And it sucks knowing that! ...Darn it!

I was so deep in my thoughts, I didn't notice that Yuri was trying to speak to me.

"Joshua...Hey, Joshua!"

"Huh?...Oh sorry...what were you saying?"

"I was asking you if something was wrong because you've been standing here for about a minute with a sad look on your face."

"Really?!"

"Is something wrong?"

"...Uh...Yuri, could I ask you something"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Do you think I could get better at fighting?"

"I don't see why not. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was thinking. I don't know how long I'm going to be with you guys and I don't know what other dangerous things we'll run into. I don't want you, Estelle, or Repede to have to always come save me from whatever danger we may face. I want to be able to defend myself when I'm fighting with you and when I have to fight alone."

"All I can say is just do some training, that's the only way you'll get better."

"but..."

"Hey, everyone has to start from somewhere. So, don't be so hard on yourself."

"Alright...Hey!...Do you think could you help me train, just for a little while? I would learn a lot faster with your help. "

"...Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt. Sure."

"Really?! Thanks Yuri!" With Yuri helping me, I would get better for sure!

"Alright, we better get moving. Let's go Este-", Yuri started to say before cutting himself off. He turned and started walking towards a cart with weapons. Estelle was apparently standing near it, reading a book. As Yuri and I approached the cart, a man standing nearby turned towards us.

"Welcome. I've got some nice gear in stock today", the man said. He picked up a sword that was hanging on the cart's side.

"This blade was forged by none other than Assam the blademaster. It even comes equipped with weapon skills. No traveler should be without them. Feel free to give it a try."

"Huh? What do you mean", Yuri asked.

Estelle, who was busy reading, all of a sudden started to speak.

"The special techniques contained in weapons. These techniques were originally passed down from master to pupil...but the blademaster Assam used a special process to seal them within the weapons themselves. Bodhi blastia can acquire techniques from weapons imbued with this power. With continued use, weapon artes can eventually be learned by the person using the weapon. However, because certain artes were too powerful for just anyone to use, Assam modified certain weapons so that powerful artes could only be learned and used by meeting certain requirements. In order to learn these special artes, you must have already learned a certain amount of artes and use the weapon continuously until you learn the arte. However, in order to use the special arte, you must use the weapon you learned it from. If you try to use a special arte while using a different weapon, it won't work."

"My, this young lady knows her stuff. That about sums it up", the man said.

"I read in a book that the Kritya gave this knowledge to humans long ago", Estelle said.

"Huh. I thought bodhi blastia only let you use strike and magic artes", Yuri said.

"In order to find the fighting style that meets your needs...it's best to think carefully about weapon skills when choosing your weapon. There are even weapons without weapon skills that focus instead on raw attack power. It all depends on your preference. I could go more in detail, but I'm afraid the sun would set long before I could explain everything to you. You should be able to read all about it in that young lady's book...", the man explained.

"Wow, that sounds pretty cool…and complex" I said.

"Heh heh heh, It does, doesn't it", the man said. I was kind of surprised that there were weapons that had these kinds of things added to them. While I wanted to buy one of the weapons for myself, I realized that I had three problems. One, the weapons costed more than what we already. Two, I don't have a bodhi blastia. So if the weapon does have any skills, I wouldn't be able to learn them. And three, I still have almost no fighting experience, so even if I did learn an arte, it would be useless if I can't even use my weapon right. Unless those three things change, I better just stick to what I have right now. Oh well...

"I can't imagine business is all that great in a place like this", Yuri said.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not here because I want to be… There are monsters on the far side of the Hold, so I'm stuck", the man explained.

"Monsters, huh…? ...Did you hear that?" Yuri said to Estelle, but it didn't seem like she heard him.

"And...she's not listening."

"...Huh? Did you say something?"

"I said I'm going to go get some information, so you wait right there."

"Oh, I'll come too." Estelle turned towards the man to give back the book she was reading.

"That's all right, go ahead and take it. It's pretty old and it has some pages missing, but it's yours if you like."

"Th-thank you very much."

As Estelle walked up towards us, an idea came into my head.

"Hey, Yuri"

"What is it Joshua?"

"Can we go up to the top of the gate? I want to see if I can see Halure from here."

"I don't know…"

"It'll be quick. Besides, I don't feel like it would be a good idea if I went alone…"

Yuri looked at me for a few seconds and sighed.

"Fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt. We may even see what monsters that guy mentioned. Let's be quick about it though."

"All right", I said fist-punching the air.

In order to reach the top of the gate, we had to go through a guard station to reach the stairs that lead to the ladder, which was the only way up. Thankfully, there were only two knights in the guard station who were too busy doing their own thing to notice us. After we reached the top, I immediately noticed that someone was else was up here with us. It was man that had really long white hair, crimson eyes, and wore clothes that were dark red. Estelle started to walk towards the white haired man.

"…Hey, hold on…", Yuri said trying to stop her.

"Hello...Um, I beg your pardon, but…what are you looking at", she asked the white haired man.

"Humanity at work. Their tenacious attachment to this life…", the white haired man said.

Estelle got confused look on her face.

"Why…? Why must humans live the lives they do? They fight for monopolized technology and hurt even those closest to them…"

"Are you talking about blastia" Yuri asked. The man went silent.

"I can't speak for anyone else, but …It doesn't seem to me like there's any reason why we are dropped into this world. But once you're here, you just do what you can to give this life everything you've got."

"Perhaps there is truth in what you say…" The white haired man turned the other direction and started to walk away.

"H-Hey…!" And like that, he was gone.

"He's gone…What was that all about…?" Estelle said, still a bit confused.

"Got me. They say the heat can make people go a little crazy." Yuri said.

"Is it hot?"

"Hhhmmm… Maybe he's the kind of person who really thinks about things like that", I said.

"Maybe", Yuri said.

After that very…interesting conversation, I looked to see if I could see Halure. Although, it would have been good idea to have asked which way it was or look at the map. Before I could locate the town, I saw that in the distance there was a really big cloud of dirt.

"Uh Yuri…are clouds like that normal", I asked.

"I don't think so…I'm getting a bad feeling right now. We better get back down", he replied.

As we came back down from the top of the gate, an alarm suddenly went off!

"W-What's going on", I asked feeling worried.

"I doubt anything good", Yuri said. As we approached the gate, people from outside were rushing to get through the gate.

"Hurry, get inside! The gate's closing", a woman shouted from on top of a small tower. Knights were running all over the place, grabbing weapons, shouting orders, and other things. Things were getting hectic, one good look through the gate gave the answer why. The big cloud of dirt was actually a herd of monsters, charging straight for the Hold!

" Are all those... monsters..." Estelle asked with her hands covering her mouth.

"We just left the capital and things are already getting crazy... That's it. I'm cursed. I know it", Yuri said.

Yuri started to run towards gate, but I noticed that gate was starting to close. Repede rushed over to the knight that was controlling the gate and stopped him from closing it. Estelle ran past me and ran towards the gate.

"Estelle! Where are you..", I started to say before I realized she going to help the last few remaining people get in the hold. I stood where I was, wondering what I should do. Should I stay here, or should I try and see if anyone needs my help? While I didn't want put myself in harm's way, I just couldn't stand there and do nothing.

"…Here goes nothing", I said as I ran toward the gate.

As I stepped outside the gate, I looked around saw that almost everyone was inside. Yuri and Estelle were helping the last few people. Suddenly, I noticed that there was a girl laying on the ground, not moving. I rushed over to see if she was ok.

"Hey, are you alright?" She didn't respond. "Hey, come on! Please wake up!" The girl started to slowly open her eyes.

"...Huh...what...what happened", The girl asked, looking a bit dazed.

"Thank goodness your alright."

"What's going on? I remember running for some reason, but I don't...W-What's that?!"

"Monsters. Look, I need to get you into the hold. Can you stand?"

"Let me see..." She the girl tried to stand up, but she fell back down.

"Ow!...I think I twisted my ankle."

"I'll carry you!"

I was a little worried about carrying her, I wasn't sure if could. However, when I lifted her up, I realized she wasn't very heavy. So, I was able to carry her back to the hold without an issue, but when I got there the girl said, "Please...my bag…I need my bag. It's really important." I looked back and saw that there was a bag outside the gate, but the monsters were already getting to close. Without even thinking, I ran back out again to get the bag. I didn't know why, but I just did. When I got to it, I tried picking it up, but the bag was a lot heavier than I thought.

"Jeez! What's in this bag anyway?!" I was able to put it on on my back, but the weight of the bag slowed me down. As I started to run towards the gate, Yuri ran past me, going the opposite direction. I didn't know why, but I was sure he had a good reason for doing so. When I got to the gate, it started to close. I saw that Yuri was running towards the gate with monsters right on his tail.

"Yuri", Estelle cried.

"Yuri, hurry", I shouted. With only a second to spare, Yuri slid under the gate and into the hold just as it closed. I heard the sounds of the monsters, banging against the door. Thankfully, the gate was strong enough to keep them out. After a breath of relief, I looked around to see where the girl I helped. She had moved from the spot she was before and she was now resting up against a wagon.

"I'll be back you guys", I told Yuri and Estelle. I walked over to where the girl was, holding the bag in my hand.

"This is yours, right?" A giant smile grew on her face.

"Oh thank you!" She quickly took the bag and opened it. After going through it, she pulled out a picture frame.

"What's that?"

"It's a picture of my family."

"...Is that why you wanted your bag?"

"Yes. This the only picture of my family I have."

"Why is that...if you don't mind me asking..."

"Well, I haven't been able to see my family in over a year now and this is the only way I can see my family's faces. I really miss them." Now that I think about it, I wonder how long it's been since I've seen my family? Where they are? Do I...even have one?

My thoughts must have been all over my face, because she seemed a bit uncomfortable now.

"I'm sorry, I'm probably making you feel uncomfortable..."

"No no, it's all right." We went silent for a minute. Then she held out her hand towards me.

"I'm Anna, a traveling merchant." I took her hand and shook it.

"I'm Joshua, a clueless guy. At the moment anyway." I didn't really take a good look at Anna at first, but now I did. She had red hair with part of it in a ponytail and one long strand on both sides of her face, red eyes, wore a green shirt and a green hat, light brown pants, and brown boots.

"Oh, I'm so rude! I didn't thank you for saving me."

"Don't worry about it."

"No, you saved my life. Thank you so much!" That made me blush a little.

"No problem. How's your leg?"

"It's fine, still hurts a little though. I should really learn some healing artes. Then I could heal myself." Maybe if I ask Estelle, she could heal her. Before I had a chance to do that though, Anna tried asking me something.

"Hey...I know I just met you, but could you...?" She cut herself off and shook her head.

"Nevermind. Forget it. Anyway, I should...", Anna started to say before she was interrupted by two men arguing. A man in a dark gray hood and a knight.

"So why don't you let us through? I'll beat those monsters to a pulp with these fists of mine!"

"How many times do I have to say it? These monsters are tougher than you think!"

"You dare to doubt the power of the monster hunters?" Another man who was standing next to him, who wore dark clothes, had red hair with a...unique hairstyle, took his big sword off his back and held it in front of him.

"S-Stop", the knight said. The red haired man raised his sword high and struck the ground with his sword.

"Stay out of this! You Knights cheated us out of a job back there, and now we're gonna work off some steam!"

More knights came and surrounded the two men.

"Hey, hold it", one knight said.

"It's always the same with these guild idiots", another knight said.

"And once again the Hunting Blades Guild shows how bad their thirst for killing monsters is." Anna said.

"Hunting Blades Guild", I asked.

"You haven't heard of them? There are a guild dedicated to hunt monsters and taking them out. Which isn't so bad. Only problem is they're so hell bent on taking on any monster they are after, regardless of how tough it is. Not only that, they also..."

"...get mad at people when they hinder them from hunting?"

"Exactly, but other than that, they aren't so bad. just don't get in their way when they're going after a monster." Yuri and Estelle were starting to walk in my direction, but a woman who had red hair, wore a white shirt with a long orange vest, dark pants, and brown gloves and boots, walked up to him.

"You there, how about coming to work for me? You'll be paid, of course." She said, raising a bag of money in the air. Yuri kept a straight face and looked the other way, Not saying anything. A man in red next to her seemed angry at that. "Watch your manners around the President. Well, whaddya say?"

"So it's not bad manners to try and buy someone without even introducing yourself", Yuri said.

"Watch your mouth", the man said angry. The woman who is apparently a "president", lifted her arm in front of him.

" You're just as charming as I expected. I'm Kaufman of the merchants' guild, Fortune's Market. We handle everything from trade to distribution." Another Guild...I wonder how many guilds are there.

"Hey, Anna?"

"Yeah?"

"She's part of a guild too, right? How many guilds are there?"

"I can't give an exact answer, but if I could estimate it there are...maybe a hundred or more." My jaw dropped.

"Wow! Really?!" Anna nodded her head.

"Yep. Some guilds, like Fortune's Market, are pretty big and important guilds. Some things are possible only because of the guilds."

"Being in a guild sounds really cool!"

"Yeah, only thing is that you give up your rights as a imperial citizen. But it isn't so bad."

"Wait...are you in a guild Anna?"

She winked at me and said, "Yep! It's called The Lucky Traveling Merchants or T.L.T.M for short. It isn't very popular, but we work along with Fortune's Market. So much, I feel like we're part of the Fortune's Market guild more than anything else." Suddenly, the ground started shake. After a few seconds, it stopped.

"What was that", I asked. Surprisingly, Kaufman was the one who answered my question.

"The Lord of the Plains", She said.

"Lord of the plains" Estelle asked.

"He's the leader of that pack of monster."

"The leader? Man, there's some amazing things out there", Yuri said.

"Do you know if there's another way we can cross the plains? We're in a hurry" Estelle said.

"Hmm, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for the Lord of the Plains to leave" Kaufman said.

"Huh. I guess there's no point getting worked up over it." Yuri said.

"But I can't afford to just sit and wait. I'm going to get a second opinion!" Estelle said. She turned and went down a slope leading to where almost everyone else in the hold was. Repede followed after her. I was a little worried and decided to go after her as well.

"Hey, I'll be back", I said as I ran after Estelle. I found her sitting next to a tent.

"Are you ok Estelle", I asked a bit concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm just a little tired from earlier" Estelle said.

"Hey...don't worry. We'll find a way to get to Halure, I'm sure of it!"

"Thank you..." About a minute later, Yuri came down the slope, looking for us.

" Estelle. Joshua",Yuri said, calling to us.

"I...I'm not waiting around for the monsters to leave or anything. I'm just resting a little." Estelle said.

"Oh, I see. Well then, I guess I'll just have to take the other way around by myself", Yuri said. He then turned around walking up the slope.

"What? How did you...? Hey, wait for me!" Estelle said as she got up and ran to catch up to him. I was happy we had another way to get to Halure, but I felt I was forgetting something.

"Oh crap, I almost forgot!" I ran and caught to Yuri and Estelle, who were almost at the entrance.

"Hey Estelle, you aren't really tired are you?"

"I am a little, but not a lot."

"Well, I wondering if could heal someone who hurt her ankle trying to get in the hold...If it isn't too much trouble"

"No, not at all."

"Yuri, can you wait for a minute or two?"

"Sure. Just meet me by the entrance." I lead over to where Anna was and after a quick heal, Anna was up and on her feet.

"Thank you so much", Anna said.

"I'm happy you're back on your feet", Estelle said.

"I know I just met you, but...could I ask you a favor."

"What kind of favor", I asked her.

"You're going the other way to Halure, right? Do you think I could tag along with you guys", Anna asked.

"What do you think Estelle?"

"I don't mind...What about you Joshua?"

"I don't mind either...but we should ask Yuri too."

"You mean that guy you were with? I'll go ask him myself." Anna ran to the entrance to talk to Yuri. Estelle and I walked over there. As we got there, Anna seemed very excited.

"Thank you so much, you won't regret it! I promise", she said to Yuri.

"I hope so", Yuri said. Anna ran towards the Guard Station and went inside.

"Looks like we're gonna have some extra company for a little while", Yuri said.

"Its ok with you Yuri", I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it. Besides she..." As he was speaking, Anna came back with a weapon on her back.

"A spear", I asked.

"Yeah! I can defend myself pretty well! So don't worry about me if we get in a fight, ok" Anna said.

"Alright, let's get going!" And with that, we left Deidon Hold and started our walk towards Halure. While it was going to take us a longer time to get to Halure this way, as long we avoid that horde of monsters, its fine with me! Plus, I didn't want to wait around for the monsters to leave either. Well, I hope this route isn't too bad.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Anna has joined the party(temporary)! I hoped you enjoyed Chapter 3! In the next chapter, we enter the Quoi Woods...and things get interesting!

If you want, leave a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading and have a nice (Enter time of day here)!


	5. Chapter 4: Recovering lost fragments P1

**Author's Note**

Sorry, but this is going to be a short chapter this time. I'm about to go back to school, so I didn't make it very long (and I wanted to upload at least one more chapter before I went back. I'll be making chapters in my spare time, so I may upload later than usual). Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Recovering lost fragments (Part 1/2)**

After walking for an hour or so, we came to an area that seemed to be some sort of wood.

"...A forest in a place like this can only mean...the Quoi Woods...?" Estelle said.

"Bingo. You're just full of information, aren't you?" Yuri said.

"I read in a book once that a curse will fall upon anyone who enters the woods..."

"C-Curse?" I said a bit worried.

"You don't believe in the curse, do you? Come on, I'm sure we'll be fine." Anna said walking ahead of us. "Besides, if we don't go through the woods, we'll have to wait till the Lord of the Plains leaves. Who knows how long that will take!" Estelle still seemed reluctant about entering and to be honest I was too.

"I don't think you'll be able to reach Flynn if we go back." Yuri said. Estelle expressions seemed to immediately change after he said that.

"Okay, let's go!" Estelle said, now seeming determined. I still wasn't too sure about entering, but at least I wasn't going by myself.

As we traveled further into the woods, it seemed to get even creepier. The woods made me feel uneasy, and for some reason I felt like something was watching us. I was probably freaking out because of what Estelle said, but I wasn't sure; I needed to calm down, so I tried to start another conversation.

"Uh…so Anna…what made you want to be a merchant?" I asked her.

"To be honest, part of the reason was because I wanted to travel." She said.

"Travel?" Estelle asked.

"Yeah, I really didn't travel a lot as a kid, and I wanted to do something that was…exciting."

"What was the other reason?" I asked.

"Well…it was a promise I made."

"What kind of promise?"

"That's a secret! Maybe I'll tell you in the fu-…!" Anna cut herself off because she realized she was about to fall down a steep hill. She tried to balance herself, but she couldn't and started to fall over.

"Anna!" I shouted as I tried to catch her. I grabbed her arm to stop her from falling. Unfortunately, my footing wasn't very good, causing me to fall down the hill with her. We tumbled down the hill for a few seconds before we reached flat ground.

"Ow..." I said feeling a bit dizzy. "Anna…are you ok?"

"…Yeah, I'm fine" She said picking herself off the ground. I looked at the hill we fell down; and even though it felt like we rolled down the hill for a few seconds, we had fallen further than we thought. On top of the hill, I could hear Yuri shout out to us.

"Hey! Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Do you think you can climb back up?"

( The hill seems to slant at a 150 angle, so I don't think we'll be able to climb back up the hill…how can I tell that's 150 degrees? Hmm…weird)

"I don't think so, it looks too steep. What should we do?"

Anna walked closer to the hill and said, " I think it would be better if we meet back up with you two since we can't climb back and the hill is a bit too dangerous to come down."

"Alright, If you say so. We'll try to meet up with you guys as soon as we can."

"Please be careful." Estelle said. With Repede replying with a bark, the 3 of them walked away. Anna and I looked at each other for a few seconds. Anna, looking a bit down, said, "I'm sorry Joshua, I should have been paying attention to where I was walking."

"Don't worry about it, all we have to do is meet back up with Yuri and Estelle, avoid monsters, and get to the exit. …Sounds like a lot, but I'm sure we'll make it." I said with a smile. Anna nodded, with a small grin on her face.

We started to walk in the direction we thought would lead back to the others, but after a few minutes of walking, a rustle in the bushes stopped us. I turned to see what it was, only to find it was caused by a big, gray bear! I was about to freak out, but I noticed something before I reacted. While the bear was in our sights, we weren't in his. The bear had its back turned to us and from the sounds it was making, it seemed to be eating something. I was a little surprised that it didn't notice us earlier, considering all the shouting we did. I turned back to Anna, who seemed just as worried as I was.

'We better get away from the bear or we'll be his lunch.' I whispered.

'Let's be quiet then, follow my lead and watch where you step.' Anna whispered. Following Anna's lead, we slowly tip-toed away from the bear. We were almost home free, but then…

"Squa-aack!" said a bird like monster which was nearby, who spotted us as we were sneaking away. I was worried that the bird got the bear's attention, but it didn't seem to be paying the bird any mind. We tried to ignore the bird monster , but it ran up to us and attacked! Having no choice, we drew our weapons and I tried taking it out with one strike, but I only gave it a small cut, which made it cry out in pain. Anna was able to silence it quickly with one strike, but it was too late, the bear finally noticed us and began growling furiously. It slowly walked towards us as we backed away from it.

"Anna, do you think we can beat this thing?" I asked her. She nodded.

"I don't think so. If it was all five of us facing this thing, we would have no problem, but I don't think we have the power to face this thing. And to be honest, I rather not find out." Anna said.

"I have a better plan…"

"What's that?"

"RUN!" Anna and I broke into a sprint as we tried to get away. Looking behind me, while the bear was not too close, he was chasing us. Luckily, we were faster than the bear and the distance between us grew. Unfortunately, our luck quickly went from good to bad.

Unaware that there was a really small plant monsters in the way, which I was able to avoid; but not Anna, who tripped over it and nearly went face first into the ground. What made it worse was that I didn't notice until I was a few feet away!

I called "Anna!" She tried to get up, but she seemed a bit dazed from her fall.

(Darn it! She must have hit the ground too hard!)

I didn't know how, but I had to save Anna! With my sword ready, I ran towards Anna, knowing that I would more than likely have to face that bear, which scared me a little bit. I ran as fast as I could and tried making it to Anna before it did. Thankfully, I was able to reach Anna first. I jumped into the air with my sword held high. I didn't know why, but my hands started to tingle and my sword started to glow. With the bear inches away, using both hands, I brought down my sword and slammed it on the ground. A strong wave of energy emitted from my sword, the force was so strong, the bear was pushed back a few feet and fell on it's back. Without a second thought, I picked Anna up from the ground and ran. I didn't know how far or how long I ran when I stopped, but I know we were safe.

I put Anna against a tree and asked, "Are you alright Anna?"

"I'm fine. Thank you." Anna said. Suddenly, as if all my weight was put on my back, I collapsed.

"Jos…! Ar… …?!"

I couldn't make out what Anna what saying as I faded into unconsciousness.

As I slowly began to open my eyes, I noticed that I wasn't in the woods anymore; I was now in a room with three people that seemed very familiar. One was a girl, one was a woman, and the other one was…me.

(Huh?! What's going on?!)

I was baffled by what was going on, but as I listened to what they were saying, things started to get clearer.

"Hey Joshua, what do you want to do for your birthday?" The girl asked.

"Uhhh…I don't know, I don't have any particular idea." The other me said.

"It's your 16'th Birthday and you don't have anything you really want to do?" The woman asked.

"Well…maybe staying home from school, but other than that, I got nothing."

(This is…something from my past, but who are those two? I feel like I know them)

"I'll think about it." The woman said.

"Ok, how about this. We could cook you something really special and go out to do something fun later." The girl said.

"Well, that's better than what I had in mind." The other me said. "Actually, do you think we could get some beef patties and coco bread?"

"All right."

"Yay! Hey, I have something I need to do, I'll be back. !" The other me walked up to both of them, kissed them on the cheek, and left.

(Wait a minute! Those two are…)

Suddenly, my vision started to get blurry and my mind was going blank. After a few seconds, I could hear someone call out to me.

"…hu.!... .!... Joshua! Wake up!" Opening my eyes, I saw that it was Anna who was calling out my name. She had a worried look her face.

"Thank goodness, you're ok!" Anna said.

"Wha-What happened? "

"Don't you remember? You used some sort of arte that caused the bear to fly back. Then you carried all the here and after you put me down, you collapsed."

"Oh yeah, sorry if I worried you… I'm fine now."

"Good. We should get…hey…do you hear that?" I wasn't sure what she was talking about at first, but after listening for a good minute, I could voices in the distance.

"Do you think that may be…" Anna nodded her head.

"Let's go." After helping me up, Anna and I followed the sound of the voices to their source and we were happy when we found it.

"Yuri! Estelle!" I shouted, happy to see their faces.

"Joshua! Anna! I'm so happy you're ok!" Estelle said. I was happy we were all back together, so happy I didn't notice that there actually someone else nearby.

"Hey, are these your friends?" The young boy asked.

"Yeah. We got separated while traveling through the woods." Yuri said.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"I'm Karol Capel! I'm a member of the Hunting Blades guild. We travel the globe in search of the toughest monsters!"

"Nice to meet you Karol!"

"Hey, can I ask you something? Did you happen to run into any Eggbears?"

"Eggbears? Well, maybe. I'm not sure. We ran into a bear along the way, but I doubt it's anywhere nearby since we ran away from it."

"Oh, ok. Going back to town doesn't sound like a bad idea now. …Ok! I'm not too sure if you guys would make it on your own, but never fear! The star member of the Hunting Blades will escort you." Karol said proudly. "See that? I've even got my own blastia."

(Hmm, I wonder? Could he really be the star member? …Maybe. Don't judge a book by its cover is what my…mom would say.)

I started to recall what I remembered and thought about it for a second.

(Those two people…were my mom and sister. Well, at least I know now I have a family somewhere out there…but something about that memory is bugging me. What though?)

I tried figuring what about the memory bugged me, but I could put my finger on it, but thinking about it got me to remember something else.

"I'm 19." I said, getting everyone's attention.

"Did you remember something?" Yuri asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah. I'm 19 years old, I have a mother and a sister, and…and…oh darn it, I almost remembered something else!"

"Hey, don't stress yourself about it. It'll come back to you."

(Yuri is right. Stressing over it isn't gonna help, but it doesn't help me be less anxious about it though. *sigh*). Karol and Anna had confused looks on their face and I couldn't blame them, they don't know about my condition.

"Listen, I'll explain on the way to Halure." I said to them. Both of them nodded in agreement.

After who knows how long, we finally made it out the Quoi woods! I was happy to finally to out of there, but something came back to my attention. Anna said when I attacked the Eggbear, I used an arte to push away the bear. How did I do that, I don't have a Bodhi blastia, so how did I even pull that move off?

(*sigh* Now I have even more stuff to figure out. Oh well, its best that I take it as I go.)

With that in mind, we all slowly made our way to Halure.

* * *

Hurray! Joshua remembered something! In the next chapter: The group reaches Halure and deal with some tree trouble! Also, Joshua gets lucky! How? Find out next time!

If you want, leave a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading and have a nice (Enter time of day here)!


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